The use of high dielectric constant materials (i.e., high-k dielectrics) in gate dielectrics (or other dielectric layers) in semiconductors devices, such as metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), has allowed microelectronic components to be further miniaturized in recent years.
It has been shown that the addition of zirconium (e.g., zirconium oxide) to an otherwise hafnium oxide gate dielectric (or gate stack) improves both negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI) and positive-bias temperature instability (PBTI).
However, prior art attempts incorporate relatively high amounts of zirconium oxide (e.g., 60%), resulting in increased gate leakage, which is particularly undesirable for low power applications.